About fifty people packed the presentation room at the Huffman Prairie Interpretive Center, where Col. Bradley M. McDonald, Commander, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base hosted the event.
“It started with two gentlemen, it started with a dream, it started with powered flight. We are going to celebrate the fact that we are Airmen today because of what they did,” Col. McDonald said, as he described how the Wright Brothers’ work led to the formation of the U.S. Air Force.
"The accomplishment of Wilbur and Orville Wright cannot be fairly grouped with other inventions from an era of remarkable achievements and creativity. It stands alone. It is singular," said keynote speaker Burt Logan, Ohio History Connection Executive Director and CEO. "The Wright Brothers' invention of flight instantly made the world smaller."
The Presidential Proclamation of Wright Brothers Day by Kendell Thomson, Superintendent, Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park, was cut short. The roar of a World War II-era T-6 Texan flying overhead signaled that it was time for the wreath-laying at the Wright Brothers Memorial at 10:35 a.m. – the same hour as the first flight.
Wright Family descendants Stephen Wright and Amanda Wright Lane carried a wreath with Col. McDonald and placed it near the memorial. The T-6, piloted by Centerville resident and air show performer Bill Leff, flew over the memorial as a salute to the Wrights and returned for two circles around Wright Memorial Hill.
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To end the program, Greenview High School student Alex Hackney, 15, was awarded the annual Mitchell Cary-Don Gum Memorial Aviation Scholarship by the National Aviation Heritage Alliance (NAHA). The scholarship for $1,500 provides financial assistance for a student working toward a light sport or private pilot’s certificate. The scholarship was established in memory of Mitchell Cary and Don Gum, two volunteer pilots for Wright B Flyer Inc. who died in 2011.
Hackney already has some flight experience with the Experimental Aircraft Association chapter at the Greene County Airport.
“With this award, I would like to begin taking flight lessons at the Lewis A. Jackson Regional Airport (Greene County),” Hackney said, after thanking NAHA and the widows of Carey and Gum.
Hackney plans to become an airline pilot for Dayton-based PSA Airlines.
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